CarComplaints.com Notes: Most people need a car that shifts gears & coil springs that don't shred tires. The Taurus fails in that respect.
The 2003 Ford Taurus has major issues with the transmission failing. Typically the 2003 Taurus transmission failure costs $2,000 to fix by about 90k-100k miles. Not good.
Adding insult to injury, the 1999-2003 Taurus also has a huge problem with coil springs breaking which can puncture or even shred tires while driving.
The US government spent THREE YEARS (2008-2011) investigating the 2002-2003 Taurus coil springs. Although Taurus/Sable from earlier years were recalled, ultimately the NHTSA did not force a recall. They determined that because there had been no deaths & very few bad crashes & injuries, the broken coil springs defect was no big deal & not a safety defect. Tell that to all the owners who had close calls...
5.5
fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
16,285 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
2003 Ford Taurus that was purchased in 2004. Jan 05 the blower for the heating and cooling system began to work on high only. Dealer tested and replaced part number F6dz-19A706-aa this fixed the problem. This was repaired again in Jun 06 and May 07. The part has now broke again Feb 08. The problem is due to a water leak that Ford cannot repair for some reason.
My wife noticed water poring out in the passenger floorboard of her 2003 Ford Taurus. She was aggravated by this, but had no mechanical failures and did not worry too much about it. Then she had her defroster fail while driving. This caused an issue, because she was not able to get home immediately and had to use a rag to clear the windshield to drive home. She told me about it and refused to drive anywhere with our children until the problem was resolved. I found water in the vent and had to replace the blower motor. The fan now runs, but only runs on high because another component failed that controls the fan speed. When I contacted the Ford dealership, they stated they were well aware of this issue, but no recall had been filed. I looked up recall info on the Ford site by VIN and it stated none were active. A quick search on the web will show I am not the only one with this issue. I believe this is a major safety hazard an inability to clear the windshield impairs the ability to see where you are going and recognize any hazards.
On Feb 9, 2006 our blower motor would only work on high. We took it in then and they replaced the resistor, never mentioning a potential water problem that would lead to blower motor failure. On June 25, 2006 our blower motor went out. We took it in again and were told a water leak caused this & they replaced it & told us about a bonnet they could install so this doesn't happen again. We feel we should have been told in February about this problem and given the chance to purchase the bonnnet at that time, instead of paying for a new blower motor in June. We feel these should have been put on these vehicles in the first place and none of this would have happened.
Heating system does not operate properly. Variations in temperature are up to 20 degrees between dash vents. When heat is set at floor and dash vents, defrost vents provide 60 degrees. This, at times, causes windshield to not clear snow as it freezes upon impact. Variation in heat causes driver and passenger discomfort and requires excessive manipulation of controls to maintain some comfort. This decreases driver alertness. Cold from front defrost requires driver to seek ways to keep hands warm, such as sitting on them or wearing gloves. Ford and local dealer advise there is no problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Maxfield, ME, USA